Midsummer Holiday
Midsummer was an annual holiday that customarily occurred between Flamerule 30 and Eleasis 1 on the Calendar of Harptos. Shieldmeet occurred the day after Midsummer on leap years. However, some calendars placed Midsummer on the summer solstice (Kythorn 20) or on a different day between Kythorn 30 and Flamerule 1. (For this campaign, it is the day after Flamerule 30).
Execution
Midsummer Night, also called the Long Night, was a festival that saw much feasting, music-making, and frolicking in the forests. It was a time when love blossomed, and often acquaintances became romances and courtships traditionally became betrothals. In some lands, unmarried maidens were released in the woods and their would-be suitors then ceremonially 'hunted' them through the night. More sedate folk just enjoyed the fine weather.
Midsummer festivals of one kind or another were observed in just about every civilized settlement in Faerûn, with some variation. In more conservative cultures, families usually only got together to hold big feasts and drink too much, and couples declared their betrothals. In more liberal cultures like Silverymoon, the day was known as the Feast of Love. All shops closed at highsun and thereafter people had private meals, with displays of public decadence evolving through the day. People wandered about, watched others, and joined in, for open doors were seen as invitations, and they wore risqué dress, told bawdy jokes, or made coarse comments they might never do any other time. Moreover, people had various dalliances while priests provided convenient curative spells for free. Lady Alustriel Silverhand herself led a "Hunt of Maidens", a night-time search for a person wearing a certain mask. In large and wealthy houses, there were parties with naughty games and eating desserts from atop others' bodies. Of course, not everyone indulged, usually staying inside with the windows shut and doors closed. Come morning the next day, all was meant to be forgotten.
Festival acrobats were quite popular and did good business on Midsummer and the other festival days.
Midsummer festivals of one kind or another were observed in just about every civilized settlement in Faerûn, with some variation. In more conservative cultures, families usually only got together to hold big feasts and drink too much, and couples declared their betrothals. In more liberal cultures like Silverymoon, the day was known as the Feast of Love. All shops closed at highsun and thereafter people had private meals, with displays of public decadence evolving through the day. People wandered about, watched others, and joined in, for open doors were seen as invitations, and they wore risqué dress, told bawdy jokes, or made coarse comments they might never do any other time. Moreover, people had various dalliances while priests provided convenient curative spells for free. Lady Alustriel Silverhand herself led a "Hunt of Maidens", a night-time search for a person wearing a certain mask. In large and wealthy houses, there were parties with naughty games and eating desserts from atop others' bodies. Of course, not everyone indulged, usually staying inside with the windows shut and doors closed. Come morning the next day, all was meant to be forgotten.
Festival acrobats were quite popular and did good business on Midsummer and the other festival days.